Federer Loses to Berdych at US Open

Well not the US Open we all hoped for as Berdych silenced the Arthur Ashe crowd beating Roger in 4 sets to setup a semi final clash with Andy Murray.

It was disappointing to say the least, with Roger 23-0 in US Open night session matches I thought he’d be beating Berdych comfortably. Berdych was always going to be dangerous but I never foresaw the final result and having stayed up till 4.30am to watch the entire match I went to sleep wondering what had just happened and annoyed my US Open viewing had come to a premature end.

I’m a little late with this post and that’s down to two things; I thought I’d wait a little bit and see how I felt and I’ve found it pretty tough to get motivated to write this post which is naturally the case after a tough loss. Anyway here goes…

Match Summary

For those who didn’t see a quick summary of the match would be Fed broke in the opening game, got broken back later in the set, missed a regulation volley on the first point of the breaker and then capitulated to lose it 7-1.

Berdych then broke Fed in his opening service game of the second set after he sprayed an easy forehand wide. He took that 6-4. The third set and match looked to be Berdych’s when he broke immediately again only for Roger to find a way back from 3-2 down to take the set 6-3.

By this point the momentum had changed but Berdych managed to keep his head and ride it out before breaking at 4-3 and serving out the match to love. Nightmare.

Also – watch this clip and look how annoyed Roger looks in the tie break after the missed volley + how smug Berdych looks. As I tweeted during the match you gotta wipe the smirk of Berdych’s face to beat him and it didn’t happen. Prick.

What went wrong for Roger?

It’s difficult to really pin point exactly what cost Roger the match and after I’ve let the dust settle for the last 2 days I think it probably boils down to two things; Berdych’s consistent level of play, Roger’s movement (or lack of) and getting himself in too big a hole to get out of. (I’ll talk about Fish later)

Roger can only control one of those things which is his movement so I’ll look at that first. Against Berdych he never quite looked like he was in position early enough to play his shots properly. A couple of points stick in my mind where Roger didn’t get the footwork right and ended up spraying the ball miles wide. When you don’t get your feet planted it takes a ton of pace of your groundstrokes and they practically just loop in, which of course Berdych can capitalise on.

Once you’re on the back foot in a rally against the Czech it’s hard to get back into it without pulling off an amazing shot and no matter what Roger tried he couldn’t really find anything that worked.

I think the main reason for most of his errors boils down to movement too, if you’re getting caught in the wrong positions you’re having to rush shots or play off balance which inevitably means shanks, mis hits and difficulty keeping the ball in court. I mean you only gotta look at how many times Roger missed his strings completely to know his game was off.

If Roger had won the first set then I think the match would have been very different but getting off to the bad start and then dropping the second just meant he had too much to do. He never really got going despite the 4 game streak in the third. It was like he couldn’t find that other gear, I’ve felt similar before, you turn up to play whatever sport it maybe cricket, tennis, football and you feel like you have a ton of energy but then as soon as you start you feel like you’re not really moving that well, almost labored despite feeling fine physically. I guess that’s what happened to Roger on court, he tried his best but he just couldn’t come up with the shots or consistency to find a route back in. When he won the fourth I thought that would get his adrenaline going and he’d be able to start dominating Berdych but for whatever reason it just didn’t happen.

As much as I hate Berdych’s smugness I have to say he played pretty well and was consistent throughout the 4 sets. He plays like a robot so once he get’s going he’s hard to stop. Robots thrive off patterns too and most of the points/rallies/sets followed a distinct pattern which plays into his hands. Any rallies of length were usually won by Berdych and it was only when Roger started mixing it up, to confuse the robot, with dropshots and slice was when he found success. In hindsight it’s a pity he didn’t try more of that as I think he won practically every point that where Berdych had to move forward rather than side to side.

Biggest Areas of Disappointment

Probably the worst thing about the match was the fact Fed managed to win the third set, totally switch the momentum and then lose the 4th + the match in almost no time at all. I thought when he won the 3rd there was a very good chance that he’d be able to turn the match around but it just didn’t happen. It gave the fans and himself false hope and that’s never fun to watch. Even when he was two break points down in he 4th and he came up with a GOAT volley to save the first, Berdych just hit a massive cross court forehand that he had no chance of getting to. Sad times.

The second disappointment was that I don’t think Berdych played as well as he did in Madrid yet this time he was on the winning side of the net. I guess that just sums up tennis and how matches can be decided by just a couple of points but I genuinely thought Berdych was going to have to play unbelievable to win, unfortunately he just had to play well, keep above a certain level and that was enough to get the job done. I guess the positive for him is he didn’t let them 3rd set loss bother him too much considering he’s choked many times before. Perhaps now he’ll beat Murray but then he will definitely choke the final.

Was Fish’s Withdrawl a Factor?

I know a lot of people blame Fish for the loss but I don’t that’s really the case. Obviously it didn’t help but I don’t think neither us nor Roger can use that as sole blame. Having a big break isn’t ideal but there’s nothing you can do about it. The same thing happened to Djokovic at the French Open in 2011 and nobody cited that as the reason for his loss so I think it’s kinda the same here. The worst thing was that perhaps Rogers first 3 matches weren’t anywhere near difficult so he couldn’t draw much from them in terms of where he was at. There wasn’t a Benneteau type match and the 4th round is usually a tricky but not stupidly difficult match and Fish was going to be just that. Perhaps if he’d played it then things might have been different that that’s a huge if so we’ll never know.

What does Roger think?

After watching Feds presser its clear he is majorly pissed off at the way he played too. He had a great chance of winning the whole thing but he screwed up, didn’t execute and got in too big a hole to find a way out of. Often it’s just the fans who are downbeat about a performance but here it’s obvious Roger is too and you can understand why.

I think he genuinely believed he was going to win the US Open this year and to have it end in the quarter final against a player he everyone doesn’t like is more than a legitimate reason to be annoyed.

I’m disappointed. I really expect myself to play better tonight, especially at night I have had such a great record,” said Federer. “I felt good. Such an amazing summer I had. I really thought I was going to come out and play a solid match. I didn’t do that tonight. Obviously there is a bit of a letdown now.

I should come in here with tons of energy and ready to go,” he said. “Who knows, if you get that day, that match in with Fish, come through with more confidence, maybe the first three matches didn’t quite give me that. Who knows? I don’t put that down as a negative, really. I just didn’t come up with the goods tonight. It was unfortunate.

Final Thoughts

I’m not going to say I’m at peace with this match just yet as I feel it was a real let down and could have been so much better. However I’m not going to ignore the fact it’s been a great year so far so it’s impossible to be too downbeat.

I think the only conclusion we can draw is that Roger played a poor match and couldn’t find a way to win. Perhaps it was bound to happen at some point but it’s just a shame it happened in a Grand slam that he had a very good chance to win. I actually think he’d have beaten both Murray and Djokovic had he got through this but it just wasn’t to be.

Perhaps the one good thing is that Roger is annoyed too and he even said he would go back to the drawing board in his presser which clearly means he’s motivated to try and push on from here and still achieve which is a positive sign. Of course as each slam passes by they progressively become harder to win but there’s probably a few more chapters in his career to write so who knows what can happen.

Anyway, it’s Shanghai next and then the indoor season, here’s hoping from a positive response now from Roger and hopefully he can end the year as the number #1 ranked player. It’s going to be tough from here but not impossible so we shall see.

About Jonathan

Huge fan of Roger Federer - I'll pretty much try and watch all his matches from Grand Slam level right down to ATP 250. When I'm not watching or tweeting about tennis I play regularly myself and use this blog to share my thoughts on Fed and tennis in general.

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86 comments

Probably the worst match I’ve had to endure as a Fed fan since Wimbledon 2010 (Berdych again, god dammit…), certainly in a slam anyway. Who do you think will win the US Open now, if you even care anymore?

Oh no! We should write him off: Lost a night match, lost to not an elite player, can’t win a slam with Rafa out, and hard court SF streak comes to an end! Will never win another slam!

I heard that one before! It was the US Open 2011.. Oh and Australian Open 2012… and Fed’s time was running out at Roland Garros. By the Way, I forgot the Olympics!!! If there is one thing I’ve learned since Roland Garros 2011, it is NEVER COUNT ROGER FEDERER OUT! I honestly am embrarred that Fed played so poorly but Berdych and Del Porto are 2 QF match-ups nobody wants! I believe Djokovic will end the year as #1, but I still see Fed winning another 2 titles(preferably the WTF) and having a fabulous season. All I wanted for the season was to see Federer get revenge on Djoker and Win a Major! The medal, 3 Master titles and Record weeks of World #1 are bonuses! Finish strong Roger!

Unfortunately, I think Roger surrendered year end No.1 to Djokovic with this loss .Djokovic is the favorite to win the title. If he does it will create a big lead of around 1700 points in race to London.Even if Djokovic loses in the final, he will have around 1000 points more than Roger in race to London. While I expect Roger to have the best year end It will be hard to outscore Djokovic by 1700 points (especially because it seams Djokovic will play one more tournament – Beijing 500-).
I see Federer playing Shanghai, Basel and WTF this year (Paris will most likely -90%- be dropped). That’s 3500 possible points. I can see Roger winning all three of those tournaments (although it won’t be easy at all). By winning all three he would likely be year end No.1 (probably unless Nole wins USO). We’ll see. Nevertheless best of luck to Roger.
PS
Nicely written analysis, I really enjoyed it (much more than the actual match and the score).

I may be wrong but I don’t think that’s how the ranking points work. Djoks is defending champion so he can’t gain any points at the USO he can only keep them if he wins. Roj got to the semis last year so he’s lost a few points but will remain no1 after us open. They will pretty much go into the last part of the season on almost the same points with roger just ahead. Problem is roger had an amazing end to the season last year so he has to defend those points whereas djokovic can quite easily earn new ones because he had mixed results after the us open last year.

On a separate note I think Rogers reactions at the presses was encouraging. He’s not settling for that loss he was clearly pissed. If u remember last year when he lost to djokovic he was properly baited and went back to the drawing board, started playing more tournaments, concentrating on masters more and he’s had this awesome season. hopefully something similar will happen.
Was really disappointed with the 4th set. I honesty felt after the third a classic comeback was on the cards. Onwards and upwards!

I am referring to RACE TO LONDON rankings which takes into account only points earned this season.(It is the only relevant ranking’s list to determine year end No.1) There, Djokovic has 8710 points, compared to Federer’s 8545. If Djokovic loses tomorrow he will have 9910 points and Roger will have 8905, meaning Roger will have to outscore Djokovic by 1005 points till the year end (WTF), to end as the No.1. If Djokovic wins the US open Roger will have to outscore him by 1805 points to secure year end No.1.
And may I just correct myself; Federer can win 4000 points until the year end (But considering ridiculous schedule he’ll most likely skip Paris, therefore only being able to win 3000 points).
This means if Djokovic loses the US open final he will have to win more than 1995 points after the open to secure year end No.1.
*Others can check my math just to be sure

Can’t believe I’m saying this but… I guess I’ll be cheering for Murray to win this thing now.

Still I am ridiculously angry about how this f***ing tournament ended for Roger. I mean: come on, this is Berdych, a guy who lost two first-rounders this summer. Night session, New York. 23 – 0. That’s just like crashing into a fence on your first day with a new car. Things like that shouldn’t happen. Really.

Tough loss, but that’s tennis for ya! Hoping for Roger to quickly get up from this and again bring back Version 3.0 we’ve seen throughout this year. Roger is a great player, (PLEASE! THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME, PERIOD!) and the thing about great players is that they either have a great day or a bad day, never an average day. i guess it was one of those bad days! And i guess Fish’s absence did make a difference. It’s not like Fed’s matches were “too” easy, but Roger played like his ol’self that made it look like so, real class and composure. Not having to play the 4th round effected his momentum in one way or the other and so he defeated himself (Berdych didn’t!). I guess it’s back to the drawing board and an upcoming Roger 4.0 in the horizon !
“There are no lessons in victory but a thousand in defeat.”-Master Fung (Xiaolin Showdown).

Thanks Jonathan. I think I’m kind a depressed after Roger loss. It’s good to go back to a nice environtment where all seems also in a bad mood after he loss. But well, life goes on. I hope Roger can finish strong this year. I really want to see Roger beat Novak, Murray, Rafa, and Berdych in the next grand slam. What do you think of Roger chance in Australian Open? Thanks again, your blog cheer me up a little bit.

Great analysis John, I agree with everything you said. Fed will bounce back, no one bounces back better and this will motivate him even more, he is so good at doing that. Since the Open is so crazy I am hoping for a Murray Ferrer final…. probably not going to happen with the way Novak is playing, but hey, you never know.

Jonathan, great post. When Federer was interviewed when coming out of the tunnel, he sounded nervous. I was pleasantly surprised when he broke in the very first game. But the forehand was way off and Fed was shanking too many shots. I didn’t think he would win the first set, unless he managed another break. The simple volley he netted on the first point of the tiebreak broke my heart. The rest of the tiebreak and the second set were awful for a rabid Fed fan. I actually switched channels for the first few games of the third set.
Berdych donated the breakback game with two double faults. Fed played much better thereafter, and I thought the fourth set wood go to a tiebreak and Fed would pull through. At four three 30 all Fed missed a forehand, and Berdych played the next point well for the break.
Overall Berdych played well enough to beat an out of sorts Fed. As Fed said in the post match interview, overall the year has been great. With a bit of luck, Murray might win and Fed will stay No. 1 for 300 weeks. The year end No. 1 looks tough. Something to look forward to.
Keep the posts coming!

well, ferrer was 5-2 up and serving for the set when they suspended play so hopefully he’ll hold for the first set, but i think that djokovic will capitalise on the rest as it will throw ferrer off if hes not careful. GO FERRER! one of the few players on tour (other than fed) that i enjoy watching. He just tries sooo hard!
Murray is into the final and i want his butt to get whipped in the final so i don’t care if ferrer loses, it would just be nice to see him finally win something of note.

I could have thrown something through the tv when I saw that silly grin and he does not even have pretty teeth at that. His country has a complex anyway. How could we expect anything better from him. I really expected Fed to win and even already had the champagne ready for the party. So disappointed and now I know what I will feel like when he retires. Hard to take losses from Roddick and Roger one right after the other.It was like bang bang. I am still hoping for Ferrer and I cannot believe I am saying that. I hope he can come out tomorrow playing like he came out today before they had to suspend the game. I prefer to just watch the scores on my iPad. I will just work late on Monday. I too like your analysis of the game.

I hope murray will win this as what fed expecting/said in wibly final that murray will win atleast 1 GS.if he win,then fed comfortably finish the year as no.1 and get another samprass record.Murray will work hard for this for sure.

OK Let me explain one more time:
First column: ATP Ranking Date
Second column: Roger’s weeks at No1
Third column: Roger’s Total Points that week
Fourth column: Joker’s Total Points that week
Fifth column: Difference in points
Assumptions: Joker wins US Open (zero net gain because he won US Open last year) and China Open (10/1-10/7: he would gain 500 points). Roger lost 360 points at US open this year and will not play China Open. It would be great if Roger completes 300 weeks at No1!
9/03/2012 294 12,165 11,270 895
9/10/2012 295 11,805 11,270 535
9/17/2012 296 11,805 11,270 535
9/24/2012 297 11,805 11,270 535
10/1/2012 298 11,805 11,270 535
10/8/2012 299 11,805 11,770 35

I hate it when a top player (feds) gets beat by a lower ranked player (berds**t) and then always gets owned in the next round. If muz wins by beating berdpoo in the semis and Ferrer in final I’m gona flip. In my opinion nowadays winning a slam without facing top 4 is a joke (unless it’s roger winning it of course lol). Like when Tsonga and berdcrap beat roger at wimby they both just got owned later which detracts massively from the tournament in my opinion. I wanted Delpo to win it tbh after Feds bailed. Now it’s Vamos Ferrer altho I can’t see anyone beating djokovic and I sure as hell don’t want Muz to win

Yeah Berdych is an anomaly, he zones in against Fed all the time and then plays like a clown against everyone else. Only gotta look at Wimby ’10. He plays really well in QF against Fed and then plays like an absolute berdouche in the final against Nadal.

Stupid rain delay in Ferrer/Djokovic match! Ruined Ferrer’s fantastic start! I think Djokovic is probably going to fight back now, like Murray! If Djokovic loses to Ferrer, I think Roger has a good chance to stay No.1 at the end of the year.

Hey Guys! I totally agree with you Jonathan, Berdich was nothing but a ROBOT! As you all remember in all Grand Slams since Australian Open 2010 till US Open 1012 Roger lost just from ROBOTS. He won that AO and then lost to Soderling at RG (Robin played like a machine with those services, volleys and movement), lost to Berdich at W (the same thing as Soderling), lost to Djokovic at US (2 match points not won), lost to AO 2011to Djoker (really routine with 3-0, too sad but he couldn’t done anything to this ROBOT who starts his robot year here), lost to NAdal at RG (Nadal is always a ROBOT and an alien on clay), lost to Tsonga at W (to win the match eith 6-4 6-4 6-4 after losing it with 2-0 you have to be programmed), lost to Djoker at US (2 match points again), lost to Nadal at AO 2012 (Nadal is definitely a mental machine), lost to Djoker RG (by leading in all 3 sets)! And thats all, I am sure still to come, unfortunately. Oh yes, also he lost form Del Potro at US 2009 (the biggest machine in tennis ever)!

The US Open are a joke. Berdych would have destroyed Murray if there had been no wind. So Berdych was the pawn sacrifice. Why didn’t they play the men’s semis at the same time?
Then Djokovic would have lost for sure and Federer would have had a better chance to become year end Nr 1. Then they stopped at 2:5 in favor of Ferrer.

Djoko hasn’t got the hands or the skill set to play well in the wind. If there is no wind today Murray will have no chance today if he plays like in the match against Cilic/Lopez.

Yeah the biggest shame for me is I think Fed would have schooled Murray and Djokovic. Unfortunately Berdych had other ideas about that. His tournament was over when he beat Fed, job done as far as he’s concerned.

Wondering, will this lost start a mental block against Berdych? I mean Berdych is the only player I think to beat Roger on both his favourite/best GS.
About the rankings, the Race to London doesnt count, it just decides who is qualifying for the WTF. The official rankings actually, so I hope Murray wins, then Djokovic loses 800 points for the lost, then Roger wins Shanghai for 1000 points, then he would have a good chance at staying No.1.
I think no matter what happens, Shanghai is a must win.

A part of me thought at 6-7 4-6 6-3 that Federer would win the fourth 6-2, and come back from 5-3 40-15 down in the fifth after hitting an unrealistic low percentage return to save match point and win 7-5 in the fifth. But hey, it’s not like that ever happens!

As far as I remember all those matches Fed lost against Berdych are tough for me to accept, and most annoyingly Berdshit’s laugh, not a smile, but a villainous giggle. I guess Fed can’t stand something in berdych just as Nadal doesn’t like something about Robin Soderling. I just don’t understand how Murray-Djoker Grandslam finals followed by great Fed-Nadal rivalry. It’s something like a few unknown and less famous players sharing a few Grandslams immediately after Sampras-Agassi era. May be the history sees a slump after every great phase of Tennis.

What the f*** is wrong with Djokovic today? If he doesn’t get his act together he is going to hand Mugray his first slam. That CANNOT happen. The media would.die of excitement and they would hype the boy up more and more until he loses an important match. Then he’ll just be.an angry Scottish guy again. Oh, how I hate the British media. I don’t really love or hate Murray, but I can’t deny he’s a.good player.who.probably deserves a slam. But because of all the bandwagon jumping idiots who support him, I hate his guts!

oh dear, yes. I don’t normally watch bbc news cause it’s crap ( CNN is where it’s at!) but i went onto it this morning and couldn’t help but laugh. Every three minutes they remind us that Andy Murray won his first grand slam. They are so bad. People are dying all over the world and all they can think about is that some tennis player won a slam? Big whoop. i’m sick and tired of this stupid media. They asked some man whether he thought this could lead to greater things for murray and he literally said he thought murray would end up with 10 slams. When you say that, you know you’re pretty delusional. lol.

If you love tennis, you will understand the effort the guy is putting in. He is nowhere near as skillful as Roger but he is trying to make it up with supreme effort. Losing four slam finals is devastating and you’ve got to feel for him. I think Roger would be very happy Murray won. He would’ve wanted him to last Monday. Me too. Djoker has been acting like he is the king of the hill these days. That should teach him.

It has taken me this long to post a comment because I was so profoundly disappointed in Rogers’s loss, as I can see we all are. I surely dislike Berdych. I can’t get his wicked little grin out of my head. Those horrible teeth! Ugh! As for Roger, my heart says he’ll bounce back. I just wish that my head would say the same! I’m worried!!!!

A bla ending! I turned on my tv right at the end and no one seemed excited. Now we do not have to hear will Murray ever win a slam. Choices were not good after the Fed was out. At least the Joker will not get back to # 1 so quickly.

I don’t hate Murray after all, I like him as a good tennis player who always deserved a big title,but I can’t stand this British media which suggested Murray to have the haircut and shave to win a major would now make him ‘Sir’ or ‘Lord’ and recommend a gold coin to be minted with the Queen on the other side.

I hope Murray is on his way to Scotland, because when I turned on the tv this morning the talk shows were interviewing him. I think my US should promote our players and players like Federer but let the other countries promote their players.

The hero who won 77 matches out of 84 in the past 12 months is not done yet. I’m sure Roger will push his era to a few more years. In fact it would be more exciting to see if Nadal will also be back with complete fitness. The contests will be more intense. There will be no favourite even for Semis.

Yeahh!!as predicted,murray has won the USO.
i strongly beliave our fed will end the year as no.1 for sixth time.Now fed pitts off with his USO performance.Thats what he said in interview as below: ‘Man, it’s just not happening for me.’ It was just a very disappointing match for me.”I hope to finish strong at the end, and particularly in the indoor season.”
if berdych clash with our fed at indoor games,fed will baggel him to revange for USO.hope will happen;)enjoy guyz!!!

did you notice that…this year 4 GS was collected by top 4 guys.no one from top 4 lifted more than 1 GS.when was the last 4 GS collected by different player in a calender year?do any one know that?Jonathan will find the answer for this;P
thank you:)

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About peRFect Tennis

Hey, I'm Jonathan. I started up peRFect Tennis back in May 2011 because I wanted to be able to share my thoughts on Tennis, and on my favourite player Roger Federer.

I first took notice of Fed back in 2001 when he beat Sampras at Wimbledon. Back then, like most Brits I was a Henman fan, clinging onto the belief he could still win Wimbledon.In fact, I was actually glad Tim beat Roger at Wimbledon that year!

Ever since then though, I've followed Federer's career closely, been lucky enough to see him play live on several occasions and now use this blog to analyse matches, make predictions, and share everything and anything Federer related.

If you want to learn abit more about peRFect tennis and what to expect from my blog, then head over to my about page.